Surf City - We Knew It Was Not Going to be Like This

  by Gillian Fish

published: 14 / 8 / 2013

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Review

New Zealand band Surf City return with their second album to be released on London label Fire Records. ‘We Knew It Was Not Going to be Like This’ is a collection of laid back, surf-pop tracks that also retain the psychedelic undertones of the band’s first album. The album has an interesting back story in that it was recorded across the globe – in New Zealand, New York and in South Korea. In the song ‘NYC’ the band’s frontman and founder Davin Stoddard reflects on his time living in the city and how he was less than impressed with it, leading him to move to South Korea and teach. The time Stoddard spent travelling and living in different places is a clear inspiration for this record, and much of the record was written on the road. ‘We Knew It Was Not Going to be Like This’ contains mostly light hearted and summery melodies, but the songs also seem to have a slightly melancholic feel to them. The fuzzy guitars and reverb vocals make this album ideal for days spent driving to the beach or lazing in the park. The opening two tracks ‘It’s a Common Life’ and ‘I had the Starring Role’ are the tracks that impressed the most with the latter having catchy guitar riffs, but despite its simplistic lyrics ‘I Want You’ is an enjoyable song about desiring somebody. Although the album doesn’t particularly have stand-out moments, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it works as a whole. Fans of Surf City will no doubt be impressed and they may even gain a few new ones along the way.

Track Listing:-

1 It's A Common Life
2 I Had The Starring Role
3 Song From A Short-lived TV Series
4 NYC
5 Claims Of A Galactic Medium
6 No Place To Go
7 I Want You
8 Oceanic Graphs Of The Wilderness
9 What Gets Me By

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/killsurfcity

Label Links:-

https://twitter.com/firerecordings
https://www.facebook.com/Firerecords
http://www.firerecords.com/
https://firerecords.bandcamp.com/
https://instagram.com/fire_records/
https://www.youtube.com/user/Firerecor